The local authority is projected to overspend its gritting budget by as much as 35% thanks to an exceptionally icy Christmas and New Year.

And as experts forecast another cold snap, council chiefs admit their gritting team is already working at full capacity.

A council report reveals that as of January 5, just £2k remained of its £441k salt budget and that councillors should expect an overspend “in the region of £100,000 to £150,000.”

Gritting salt costs the council £38 per tonne.

Technical Services spokesman Cllr Anne Ibbs, said: “We have had a colder winter than for the last ten years. We have had to send the gritters out an inordinately large amount of times.

“Usually, we send out gritting teams 30 times over the winter period, but just over Christmas alone we had sent them out 23 times.

“We have gone through around 12,000 tonnes of salt already and that is unprecedented.”

“There is nothing we can do about the weather, and, it has to be said I think Sefton is doing a good job of making sure the roads are safe.”

Major carriageways, bus routes and access roads to hospitals are among 209 miles of carriageway in the borough which are treated by trained officers using 24-hour weather monitoring devices.

In the report, council director of regeneration Andy Wallis warns of colder weather still to come.

He says: “An analysis of previous winter seasons would indicate that the highest number of gritting episodes occurs in February. So at the present time it is predicted that the overspend could be in the region of £100,000 to £150,000.

“The budget implications of this projected overspend and how it can be addressed, are under consideration.”

Due to the overspent, requests from residents to have their roads included on gritting schedules have had to be refused.